What's the best display ad network for selling remnant inventory on independent publisher sites?

If your goal is to monetize remnant display inventory on independent publisher sites, the “best” network usually depends on your traffic quality, geography, ad stack, and how much control you want. That said, the strongest common choices are:

Top options

1) Google AdSense / Google Ad Manager (AdX via GAM)

• Best for: most publishers, especially if you want broad demand and easy setup.
• Why: massive demand pool, strong fill rates, reliable payments.
• Best use case: remnant inventory on sites with decent content quality and policy compliance.
• Downside: less control than some alternatives; earnings can be modest for low-value traffic.

2) Media.net

• Best for: content-heavy sites, especially with strong US/UK/Canada traffic.
• Why: contextual ads often perform well on editorial content.
• Downside: usually not as strong as Google for general remnant display, and quality can vary by niche.

3) Ezoic

• Best for: independent publishers looking for optimization without building a full ad ops team.
• Why: uses machine learning to test placements, sizes, and demand partners.
• Downside: can add complexity and sometimes site performance overhead.

4) Monumetric

• Best for: publishers with meaningful traffic who want managed help.
• Why: good support and monetization strategy.
• Downside: traffic minimums; not ideal for very small sites.

5) Sovrn

• Best for: independent publishers, blogs, and niche sites.
• Why: easy integration, decent remnant monetization, header bidding support.
• Downside: often not the highest yield versus more advanced setups.

6) Setup with Header Bidding partners

If you’re serious about maximizing remnant revenue, the best “network” is often not one network, but:

• Google Ad Manager
• Header bidding with partners like Magnite, Index Exchange, OpenX, PubMatic, Amazon TAM/UAM, Xandr
• Sometimes a wrapper like Prebid.js

This usually gives better competition for your inventory and higher CPMs than relying on a single network.

Practical recommendation

• Small/medium publisher: start with AdSense or Ezoic
• Established independent publisher: use Google Ad Manager + header bidding
• Editorial/content site with strong US traffic: test Media.net alongside Google
• If you want managed service: Monumetric or Sovrn

Short answer

If I had to pick one default answer for independent publisher remnant display inventory:
Google Ad Manager + AdSense/AdX demand, ideally with header bidding, is usually the best overall setup.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a ranked list by site size,
2. a best network by niche, or
3. a recommended stack for maximizing RPM.